A Future Which Never Existed
by OperationKingfish
Summary: "Is there a future after this mission?" is all Roach can think about leading up to Makarov's possible takedown.


**Author's Note:** Funny story: I may or may not have been dead for two years. Sorry for being so busy with school. It's glad to see that not much has changed around here. Right, onward to this short story I wrote up in a matter of hours.

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"This is it, men—our shot at finally getting that Russian psychopath. Get some rest tonight. We'll need it for the big day tomorrow. Roach, a moment with you after the meeting." With that, Cpt. Mactavish dismissed the team and headed over to Cpt. Price for a private conversation. I stayed in place and watched as Ghost joined the crowd heading towards the exit.

My little monitoring session ended when I heard the Scottish captain call for me. "Yessir?" I mumbled quickly out of instinct.

The two older men made their way towards me, with Cpt. Mactavish placing his arm around my neck. "Price and I've been talking and we were wondering… Are you truly ready for this task tomorrow?"

I felt a large chunk of tension build up in my throat. Cpt. Price stared me down, expecting only one answer to come out of my mouth: the right one.

"I-uh…" I couldn't articulate my thoughts into verbal phrases. Alas, I took a deep breath and shooed away my agitation. "Well sir. As far as I know, the plan is to keep as much of our soldiers alive, to lead them to the safehouse, to maintain a calm state of mind…" I paused for a bit and smirked. "And to take out that evil bastard. Who else would be as ready as Ghost and I are for that?"

A curve formed in the eldest man's lips. Cpt. Mactavish let out a short laugh as he tightened his grip around me as his other hand rubbed across my hair. "That's the spirit, kid."

I chuckled and pushed him off me, fixing my hair after escaping his ruthless teasing. "Good luck, captains. I'll be going off to Ghost now." I saluted and ran towards my room that I shared with the lieutenant.

To my surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. "Weird, he usually comes here after mission briefings." I searched the unit—the cafeteria, the showers, even other people's rooms—for any sign of him.

I stepped outside after giving up hope of finding him anywhere inside. Then, his distinct figure caught my eye. He stood underneath a tree, his side resting against the bark.

"Ghost?" I called out, walking towards him. He turned until he got a good look of my face.

"Bug," He nonchalantly replied. I couldn't help but smile when I realized he called me by my nickname after weeks of the standard "Roach".

He turned to his original position whilst I took my place right beside him. He was just observing the arrivals and departures of aircraft on the runway, I came to understand.

We shared a few moments of comfortable silence of each other. It had been a while since I got to spend some time with him alone, yet we were still as close to each other as ever. Occasionally, I would steal a glance to examine his masked face and determine if I could deduce whatever may lie behind the balaclava. Sometimes, he would do the same, though minus the balaclava.

I finally decided to break the silence.

"Hey, Ghost?"

"Mhmm?"

I looked at him, down at the ground, and back at him. "Do you think tomorrow will work out the way we hope it will?"

The lieutenant chuckled and answered, "Has anything really worked out the way we hoped?"

I thought about it for a while. He did have a point there.

I rephrased my question, hoping for an "actual" answer. "I mean, do you think we'll finally have Makarov in our hands?"

Ghost turned towards me, his body off the side of the tree. "To be frank, I don't believe any of the soldiers working this mission thinks that, albeit we do have to convince ourselves by the end of the day."  
I was hoping he would say something more optimistic. After all, tomorrow was our most serious mission yet.

I sighed and bit down on my lip. Pessimistic thoughts began to fill my head, but I needed them gone if I wanted to do well tomorrow.

"Well, do you think we'll still be alive, breathing and in good health?"

It seems that question struck a nerve in him. Ghost was speechless for a long few seconds. Finally, he spoke. "Out of all the days and worrisome situations we've gone through, why is our next one giving you so much anxiety?"

I bit my tongue. "Why?", of course, is always a good question with many answers.

"Mate, we're leading this mission. We're commanding all these men. We've got loads of responsibilities added onto our shoulders. We've got high-risk objectives and I just don't know if—" I stopped myself before I could ramble on with meaningless paranoia. "Look, I've just been thinking a lot recently and…"

I looked into Ghost's eyes, or at least the approximate area of where his eyes should be. I continued, deciding to unveil my built-up thoughts. "I want to have a life after my military campaign. I want a house with my own little family to take care of. I want to have nights at the bar with you and Mactavish and all the other boys knowing that the next day, I wouldn't need to risk my life on the battlefield." Tears were at the brim of my eyelids, seconds away from falling. "I want a future. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, fighting on the field… but there's a day in which we all have to hand our bedding in: retire and move on."

Ghost wrapped his arms around my neck, and I wrapped my arms around his chest. He stroked the back of my head and comforted me. "Bug… Everyone wants all of those things that you've mentioned. We all just have to be patient for that point. Just take a look at Cpt. Price. He's waiting and waiting and waiting."

I let out a soft sniffle, causing him to tighten his hold of me.

"It's all right, Bug. I promise you that we'll get out alive tomorrow, and we'll be one day closer to whatever it is you wish for."

My mood instantly brightened, because I knew.

I knew that whenever Ghost promised something, he would always keep that promise.

 _Day 5 (August 14th), 2016 — 19:34:02_

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 **Author's Note:** I leave it open to the readers whether or not they see Roach's and Ghost's relationship as strictly friendly or romantic. Hopefully my writing has improved over the course of two years, hehe. Don't forget to review if you'd like! [This is in honor of **_SeraphHT's_ ** and my two-year anniversary of talking to each other for the first time! Check her out if you haven't already. She writes amazing CoD stories and is the reason as to why I've begun writing again. Love ya, Seraph.]


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